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A Shiriat riding a Cyat, racing with a train. The species are from the Cheetaan Legacy universe.

So I finally decided to stop being such a scrooge I am, and embarked on an adventure to get myself a digitizing pad. Well, I didn't except the adventure part, though. I got lost in the goddamn city, couldn't find the shop for hours, finally recoiling home to check again where it is (it is a hour long trip either way). Long story short, at least now I have a digitizing pad.

This wasn't started from the scratch, I had some older sketch of it lying around which I decided to finish just for fun, nothing too serious.

While it looks okay, the "fun" part shows: Mostly probably I couldn't manage to convey the proper impression of depth (the train appearing too small), and well, while I took my time to research a bit on cat / dog anatomy (ending up mostly using cheetahs as references), I didn't pay any extra attention to the rider, just going by the "it will turn out somehow" principle. Okay, but sure could have been better.

The world of the Shiriat is harsh, almost entirely a desert with little green or blue to be found. They adapted to this world well, living there since many hundred thousands of years, more or less sustaining their technology level.

The Shiriat, resembling a reddish anthropomorphic wolf, and the Cyat, a horse sized slender cat like being are both intelligent, and are equal members of their civilization despite their anatomical differences. They have their specific roles in their society which they mostly accept. While due to their different biological orientations their natural, inherited intellectual traits differ slightly, their ability to think, to reason is quite similar.

On the picture an elder pair of them is shown, recognizable from the mane (which starts growing when they mature, and gets more prominent as they age), and the various trinkets the Shiriat is wearing. Those are not simply jewelry, they all represent some role in their society, some bond, some trait or capability, which they collect as they age. Both elder Cyats and Shiriats may be seen frequently ornamented by these, which is usually all they wear. The message of these is that the wearer is proud to relate to everything and everyone the jewels represent, and also is a kind of information, that (s)he is likely willing to engage in conversations about either subject (s)he relates, and possibly even tutor or help out if such need arises.

Most of the shiriat rail network is designed for speeds around 150 Km/h, that is, the lines connecting large cities. Most are powered with various biofuels, electricity via overhead wires is used in mountainous areas where the descending trains may feed back braking power. The cyats are the fastest land animals of the known world even capable to overtake these trains on short distances. Their build however is more emphasized towards endurance, to be able to run for large distances with some load, typically reaching 60 to 80 Km/h averages, which is faster than the interurban network's average speeds.

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The summer started with a beautiful passing storm at sunset at my location, a rare and amazing sight. As I realized what was going on, I rushed out quickly grabbing my old Olympus C2500L camera to witness and photograph this phenomenon...

Parallel lines meeting in the distance, some tracks of the Szegvár narrow gauge industrial rail system. It might also feel an eternity to pass it even with the train, however it certainly has a quite unique feel.

Flight of a Dragon is a retro style game for the Uzebox open source game console, a bit of 8 bit madness involving an ATMega 644 and a bit of electronics to get it producing a video signal and accepting input from an SNES controller. Now the game is complete so you can finally lead the dragon to his salvation! Thanks to emulation, you may also try it out within your browser!

The Shiriat and the Cyat (the latter a bit "out of shape"). I like them the most among with the cheetaan in this world design. The Shiriat's shape is somewhat an anthropomorphic wolf with red fur, similar to the black wolves of the cheetaan. The Cyat is mostly a large cheetah, the long neck giving them a bit horse or even dragon-like (with their odd nostrils) character. The shapes of their heads are similar, the Cyat's being a little larger (but very small for the creature) and more bulky than the Shiriat's.

Spinosaurus Aegyptiacus reconstruction (at least an attempt at it), as of 2015 knowledge: the Ibrahim et al. papers from 2014 and the later adjustments on the hindlimb size, discarding the quadrupedal stance. Fleshed out according to some own ideas as well as various existing knowledge on the animal.

Cheetaan city scene. Experimenting with foliage, and at last, some proper colouring. The Cheetaan (Tani), first time portrayed in a typical city setting of theirs. In the distance, the organic statue of the centre, a white arch of plant-sustained Mag-Lev track, with of course a lot of green, and the two Tani races who are primary builders of this civilization.

One of the intelligent creatures occurring in the story of Cheetaan Legacy. This creature was born from some experimental sketches I did in the Bükk mountains, as I remember somewhere up the mountainside looking down far to one of the largest springs in the region. Could a three legged anatomy work? Later after some studies on it I ended up with that it could. It is not really probable, but theoretically it works, for the most important part these creatures with proper balancing can move around without trouble.

Probably one of the most condensed scenery possible on the cheetaan homeworld before the wars. A huge gas-giant, exomoons, a gargantuan creature resembling a tiger, a cheetah riding a feathered wyvern over crystalline buildings scattered in a swamp, anything missing?

Portrait of a Shiriat from Cheetaan Legacy. Just some experiments with skull anatomy, fur texturing and such, and to make it simple, I tried a light source like if he was photographed with a flash, in front of a bland background.

Title screen plan for the Cheetaan Legacy game. It might need some color adjustments (There is a dark red color which might be invisible on some displays) which I might do at a later time editing this graphics further. The problem is mainly that my monitor has a really weird color space at darker color levels.

What happens when something gets me really inspired in the process... (Click the image to get it in 1920x1200) You could also check out the related article for the backgrounds and some research over airworthiness. Enjoy!

Flight of a Dragon is a retro game for the Uzebox open source game console, a bit of 8 bit madness involving an ATMega 644 and a bit of electronics to get it producing a video signal and accepting input from an SNES controller. Thanks to emulation, you may also try it out within your browser!

EL-9 battery powered electrical mine engine in Kemence, Börzsöny. This engine is mostly used for track maintenance due to it's slower speed, but might come useful in passenger service if the upper parts of the track will ever be re-opened, for it's environmentally friendly operation. It runs very silently compared to just about any of the others!